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Question: What rhymes with “Ralph Macchio”? Answer: “Ralph Macchio.” Here’s the chorus to the teen crush this Norwegian star sings to, and for, the original Karate Kid: “Kiss me once and keep me forever/Ralph Macchio/And in my dreams we lie here together/Ralph Macchio.” Though she’s steered clear of the spotlight in the four years since her last album, Annie hasn’t lost her touch for a rare and welcome brand of electropop that is both expertly executed and, against all odds, stubbornly ingenuous. (From A&R, bit.ly/13iA4hf)

9. JAWS

“Gold”

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One of those new British bands that sounds like they’ve been woodshedding since they were toddlers, this Birmingham outfit mixes the gauzy bashing of shoegaze pioneers Ride and Jesus And Mary Chain with a guitar riff that flicks at, of all things, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” The one weakness? The dreary verses, which are little more than the 30 seconds that separate us from the majestic choruses. Thanks to the Guardian’s indefatigable Paul Lester for the heads-up. (jawsjawsjaws.co.uk)

8. MODERN ENGLISH VS. THE ROLLING STONES VS. SCREAMING TREES

“You Can’t Always Melt a Dollar Bill”

A flawless amalgam of “Melt With You” by one-hit wonders Modern English, the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and a single line from “Dollar Bill” (http://bit.ly/aqCPJR ) from Screaming Trees’ commercial peak, 1992’s Sweet Oblivion. The secret ingredient? A single word from John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The result not only exceeds the sum of its parts, it seems to multiply them. (bit.ly/153ydU4)

7. RJD2

“Her Majesty’s Socialist Request”

Best known for composing the brooding theme music for Mad Men, this trip-hop chameleon returns with a giddy romp that uses the kitchen sink as a guiding principle. It swerves from metal, hip-hop and Middle Eastern music to whistling, scratching, rock, and a rhythm that could be the soundtrack to a Double Dutch tournament. The week’s most exhilarating three minutes and 45 seconds. (From More Is Than Isn’t, out Oct. 8, bit.ly/19sQThW)

6. CLARE MAGUIRE

“Paper Thin”

The opening of this second-album preview sounds like a glum variation on Feist’s “The Limit to Your Love,” but fans of the more subdued side of Florence Welch, as well as Blue-era Joni Mitchell (Maguire recently covered “The Last Time I Saw Richard”), will probably lock into this right away. Maguire is working on a delicate balance here: She sounds idiosyncratic enough to remain distinct from her influences but familiar enough to make you believe she’s just one opportunistic remix away from breaking through. (soundcloud.com/claremaguire)

5. ELSIE

“Go Your Own Way”

Lindsey Buckingham invested the original version of the Fleetwood Mac bust-up song with so much wrath, the song is still running on it 36 years later. By contrast, this U.K. singer pointedly reminds you that a line such as “How can I ever change things that I feel?” holds is as much a vessel for self-defeat as it is for anger. Maybe more. (bit.ly/16HYGrR)

4. THE DIGITAL NOISE ACADEMY

“Stop Running”

Featuring alumni of Beck, Creeper Lagoon, Failure, and Blinker the Star, this far-flung collaboration raised $33,000 on Kickstarter to finance its debut album, which gets off to a roaring start with a track that wouldn’t sound out of place on a mixtape alongside your favourite Foo Fighters song. Meanwhile, the band’s flipside is neatly captured on “Melting Inside,” which leverages the airy vocals of member Charlotte Martin to great effect. (From Synemy, bit.ly/11Lidj8)

A new signing to Communion, the label behind standout U.K. singer-songwriters Ben Howard, Marcus Foster and Michael Kiwanuka, this four-piece from Wales has absolutely nothing to do with sensitivity or acoustic guitars. Loud and fast, their new single barrels along with purpose and melody, not to mention a wicked — and very electric — guitar solo. You’ll find no speedier three minutes this week. (bit.ly/16EYXXI)

1. ROY HARPER

“Time Is Temporary”

Sure, Led Zeppelin wrote a song about him (“Hats Off to (Roy) Harper”) and Pink Floyd let him take lead vocals on “Have a Cigar”, but this British cult figure is 72 now and hasn’t made an album in 13 years. He still gets to hang with the cool kids though: He’s signed to Bella Union, the label that launched Beach House, M. Ward and Fleet Foxes, among dozens of others. This preview of his 22nd studio release is the very definition of elegiac: an unblinking, mournful contemplation of things that might have been. (From Man and Myth, out Sept. 23, bit.ly/14IE1lz)

The world does not need another video of a bunch of septuagenarians trying to relocate their mythical youth. Thankfully, this is something else entirely. Using the physics of church bells, a Google designer named Alexander Chen has made a video of the Beach Boys’ voices. Or, in Chen’s considerably more precise language, “Using a mathematical relationship between the circumference of a circular surface and pitch, I wrote code that draws a circle for each note of the song.” The result renders the a cappella version of the trackPet Sounds track as a series of appearing and disappearing circles. Simple and elegant, it may be the most accurate Beach Boys video ever made. (vimeo.com/69633166)

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